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Getting Old of Old Row

Why the satirical and "harmless" page does more damage than good.

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Getting Old of Old Row

Within today's society kids, teenagers, and young adults are constantly being seen as suffering from a social media addiction due to the numerous platforms that are offered within today's society such as Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram and more. The influential power these apps hold over numerous people is immense especially through accounts with an enormous following. Yet, a number of these accounts can be and are being used to regress certain social movements that so many have persistently worked for over countless years without even recognizing it. One of these specific accounts is an Instagram page "Old Row," which currently has 1.7 million followers. This account primarily posts videos and photos of college-aged students drinking aggressively or the outrageous intoxicated events that take place after the binge drinking occurs—such as a video posted earlier this month showing someone "shotgunning" an entire Mikes Hard along with a whole wine bottle that was being filtered through the can within 15 seconds. However, this page ignites a divide between men and women, which can specifically be seen within their comment section as most degrading comments are made on posts that feature women rather than men. These posts provoke comments that demean women in the eyes of other men, which is harmful in everyday life as well as the ongoing movement for gender equality.

Since this account has a primarily male dominated audience, it has created a certain portrayal of women that is seen in a relatively negative light. Because of this, many profiles, specifically male profiles, have the inclination to add fuel to the fire through devaluing comments that are not seen as often on the posts that feature men. This can easily be seen when comparing two separate posts, one on March 21 that shows a woman dancing and one on March 25 that shows a man dancing, and the extreme difference in comments on the two posts. Some of the top comments on the video of the man dancing in the middle of a circle formed by other women include, "he looks like he's having the time of his life surrounded by haters," which has 943 likes; "The man is an athlete," which has 316 likes; and "This guy's the man! You go brother," which has 100 likes. However, the comment section on a video of a woman dancing looks quite different from the previous one with comments such as, "'Hey gurl, record me being obnoxiously annoying for social media'," which has 700 likes; "Must hurt when you have no ass to land on," which has 480 likes; and "The ending….was the ending I needed," which was made in reference to when she fell at the end, which has 272 likes. Both videos show extremely similar content, with the exception of the gender that is being portrayed in each, yet the response to each post is exceptionally different.

This kind of response ingrains a preconception that men are able to perform and do certain actions while women cannot, insinuating a sense of superiority. This is an ideology that many women have fought to dissolve for so long as it promotes the ongoing sexism that many people claim doesn't actually exist. This notion is epitomized by a post that was made on the account of two women dancing with the caption, "The kind of girls that have $100k in student debt, can't find a job, and want you to pay for it." After looking through the number of berating comments that are made towards the two women, one woman expressed her extreme dislike of the page making fun this issue to which the page responded, "we will make sure to not joke about feminist dance theory majors anymore since it upsets you, Jesse." This particular post outright undermines the feminist movement through its extremely sarcastic and mocking comment that adds to the stereotype of feminists as loud, angry women who aren't actually doing anything good for society except complain.

This ignorance is also reinforced through the constant theme of objectifying women by placing a main focus and priority on their bodies, regardless of the situation. An example of this can be seen on a specific post of a video where a college aged girl is seen dancing on her own before a male comes up unwarrantly behind her and places his hands on the front of her hips, to which she then moves out of the way visibly not wanting his company. Many of the top comments included "mission failed, we'll get em next time" which has 1,439 likes; "She has the body of a 5 year old. Good for him to get curved lol" which has 125 likes; and "For the better, he'd barely last 5 minutes grinding with them chicken legs" which has 83 likes. All of these comments were made by male profiles. Not only do comments such as these promote the objectification of women, but they also encourage men to who make unwarranted advances on women with no repercussions. For males who spend majority of their time reading these comments, a mindset is reinforced that women are simply objects to be used at their disposal with little backlash.

While many people view this page as a harmless satirical profile, it's evident through the examination of what others have to say about what women do or say on this account helps promote a stereotypical image of women as inferior to men. With social media as a prominent influence within today's world, it is important for people to recognize the danger that can ensue from popular profiles that take these inequalities lightly.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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